Two worlds
by TechnoGirl317
Summary: Willow Maya Mercer finds herself traveling to the Harry Potter universe, literally in her dreams! She ends up in TPoA, not only meeting the famous characters we all know, but also a few never mentioned. What will happen? AU-ish. Cannon pairings, no cussing (just substitutes), some violence (hence the rating). Somewhat tied to my other HP story, Discoveries. OCs.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! So, if you've been reading AMM, I mentioned an idea I was distracted with. Well, this is it! Er, one of them, anyway.**

**Hope I don't disappoint.**

**By the way, spoilers to... basically any book in the series. :)**

**This is sort of a tie-in to my HP fic Discoveries, but it can stand alone, I guess. Albeit reading my other one may reduce confusion. (Hint hint. ;) ) **

_**SPOILER FOR OTHER FIC! **_**This chapter takes place around the same time as my other HP fanfic, just a few days after Emily found out she can jump between our universe and the HP universe. She may show or tell Willow, but I don't think so. Later, maybe. **_**SPOILER DONE!**_

**I know this looks like a Pokemon fic at first. Bare with me, this really is how I got the idea, and I didn't know how else to start.**

**Oh, this starts out in my OC's POV.**

_**Italics, while Willow is asleep in the beginning of this chapter, is the dream. Afterwards, it's thoughts.**_

** Disclaimer: Me no own Harry Potter.**

**Willow's POV**

I woke up partially as I registered my mum calling my name. I smiled softly, glad she had remembered to wake me up at 6:00 like I had asked, but still reluctant to get up yet, and knowing my dream was nearly over, I fell back asleep...

_Falling back into my dream body, which for some peculiar reason appeared to be Ash Ketchum, I watched the Pokeball I had just thrown before being woken. The pokemon inside, of which I have no clue what it was, was fighting to get out, and fighting hard. _

_As it did that, I used my peripheral vision to see what was going on. Pikachu, Misty and Brock were fighting Team Rocket, who yet again had showed up with some sort of rubber-coated Pokemon catcher._

_Finally, Pikachu found a place where the (ridiculously thin) rubber had torn, and shot a bolt of electricity at it. The device exploded and Team Rocket was sent flying, and, although I couldn't hear them, I knew what they were yelling. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"_

_Suddenly, as the Pokeball returned to normal, signaling the pokemon was caught, I felt dizzy, tired, and slightly unsteady on my feet. I looked up and saw a giant piece of metal, presumably from Team Rocket's machine, come flying at me. _

_ As it hit me, knocking me down and trapping me in the process, I heard an odd, yet familiar, combination of three voices directed at me._

_ Familiar because I've heard it countless times._

_Odd because it's never been directed _at _me. Or any real person._

"_Ash!"_

"_Ash!"_

"_Pikapi!"_

Suddenly I was jolted awake, looking up at the clock again. 6:01. _Hmmm. Only been a minute. _I thought.

Suddenly, something almost like a movie came to my head. It looked like a third-person view of where my dream had left off. Brock, Misty and Pikachu were running towards the Ash, still unconscious and trapped under the three of them were trying to pry it off and, when they did, noticed that Ash's hat had fallen off, revealing a strange red gash that, though it looked fresh, wasn't bleeding.

In fact, other than the fact that he was unconscious and lightly bruised, Ash looked fine.

As it ended, I sat up. "Ok, that was... weird. But a good story idea. I mean, what if it were still going? Like I just imagined, but past that?"

As I thought of that little "theory," I added little details and jotted it down in my notebook real quick before getting up, stretching, brushing my hair (that still looked messy nonetheless) and starting downstairs.

On the way down, I started smiling softly as I used it to make a little Pokemon story plot, but my smile grew as my latest fandom, Harry Potter, came to mind, and I altered it to fit that.

I sat down, still smiling, at the kitchen table, where my mum was making eggs and pancakes. She heard me and turned, beaming in return when she saw me.

"Well, someone's happy today! I wonder why?" She said in mock wonder.

While she was doing that, I just kept smiling.

My mum's amazing. We're practically the same height, about 5'1", though I'm a little taller. She has light brown hair about to her chin, a solid frame, dark brown eyes and wire glasses. I'm always being told we look alike, but I don't see it. My hair is certainly leaning more towards dark red, I have bright green eyes and a sprinkling of freckles. I guess people refer to the similar frame, though I'm a bit more slender and flexible, as well as the dark eyebrows, thick eyelashes, we're both naturally a light tan, and the fact our cheeks are always lightly pink, as well as our lips. All in all, I guess it's the whole natural-makeup-look (neither me nor my mum touch the stuff), tan skin and frame that makes us appear to look alike, but I rather like it.

All that had run through my head, for whatever reason, a few seconds before mum finished her fake thinking.

"Ok, I think I've got it. Is it because it's a Saturday, it's your birthday, your cousin's coming over, or you got another story idea?"

She knew it was all of the above, but she had missed out on a part.

I fake yawned, feigning boredom to hide my excited face to see her reaction. "A little of all, though for the story idea, it's currently more in the 'theory' stage. I'll explain it later, when Emily and Dad get home."

Mum grinned before what I had said soaked in, helped along by my grin, and she gaped at me, spatula still in her hand.

I couldn't help it. I started laughing. Of course, I took a quick picture on my phone before I fell off the chair.

"Oh sweet Merlin!" I gasped, barely audible, from my place on the tile floor, pointing at her and rolling around a little. "You should see your face, it's bloody hilarious!"

She finally snapped her mouth shut when I calmed down enough to say, "Mum, close your mouth. You'll catch flies."

I gave her my signature sweet-yet-cheeky smile at her embarrassed expression, still on the tile, which was surprisingly comfortable.

She turned back to the stove to get the food off before it burned, and I got back into my chair, albeit reluctantly. That tile really _is _comfortable.

After she did that, turned off the stove, and had put the food down, she looked at me and asked, "How did you know your dad was coming home today?"

She had, apparently, forgotten I'd watched Sherlock the night before. (Yes, it's PG14. Yes, I was only turning 11 that day. I'm rather mature for 11-years-old.)

"Well..." I started in my best Sherlock-deduction-style voice and did my signature grin again at my mum's sarcastic groan. "You've rarely been seen without a smile for the past week, you're just generally more happy than normal, you keep glancing at the clock, phone, and calendar, which had a 'D' on today, July 1st to be specific, and you look like me when a new episode of Dragons: Riders of Berk or something is coming out soon. Plus," I added, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "I may or may not have heard eavesdropped on you guys Skyping last night."

"But that at was 11:30!"

"Yeah..."

"Willow Maya Mercer, I outta slug you." She lightly swatted the back of my head and we laughed.

"I shouldn't have let you watch Sherlock the other day." Mum said as she sat down. She too knew about the little extra-observant side-effect that seems to come with watching it, along with the even-faster-than-normal talking and an odd hyperness. (I don't get hyper very often, and when I do it's not because of sugar or caffeine or something.)

I shrugged as if to say. "Yeah, but you did."

Apparently I have very good timing, because just as I had rinsed my syrupy dishes off, put them in the sink, and dried my hands, I heard the barely-audible sound of footsteps in the living room.

Knowing who it was, I snuck up to the doorway and hid, jumping out just when my cousin got close enough to hug.

"Yeep!" She yelped, surprised, before hugging me back and laughing, purposely making her long, dark brown hair tickle my nose.

She pulled away and ruffled my already-crazy shoulder length, dark red hair. "Jeez, what'd you brush your hair with? An eggbeater?" She laughed.

"You should talk." I laughed, pointing out her hair, which is nearly identical to mine except that it's dark, _dark, _brown. Almost black.

In fact, we look a lot alike, especially when her eyes decide to change to bright, vivid green with warm brown spikes going around the pupil, practically identical to mine. Same frame, same tan, freckles, nearly the same height (I'm a few inches shorter), identical hair style (minus the color), same relaxed, tomboy look, tomboyish attitude, fangirl-y tendence (when it comes to Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, stuff like that.), and smarts. Heck, even our glasses and rubber bands on our braces look the same!

People have mistaken us as twins when we were at the bookstore, despite the fact that I was ten (nearly eleven!) at the time and her thirteen (barely! She wasn't too happy at officially reaching teenagehood). They simply assumed (as they told us) that one of us had dyed our hair. We were both really happy with that.

Anyway, after I pointed out her hair, she simply chuckled and ask, "Hey, have you checked your mailbox yet?"

"Nope. Waiting for you!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a second." Mum called.

"Yes mum?" Emily asked sweetly. She will blatantly refuse to call her "Aunt Violet."

She smiled. "What's in the mailbox that has you two so excited?"

"Well..." Emily said, copying my Sherlock-deduction-voice and winking at me as mum did her sarcastic groan again. "Willow's turning eleven, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Mum asked cautiously.

"That's the age where people get their letters to go to Hogwarts, of course!" She said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I guess I don't really need to add that she was the one to get me into Harry Potter a few months ago. Or that I've already finished the series three times over. But I just did, so we'll stick with that.

We ran out to the mailbox and, although I knew it was just a card from my cousin, I beamed when I got out the heavy, yellowish parchment envelope, addressed to me (even specifying where by bedroom was!) in bright emerald-green ink.

Looking at the fancy lettering, I remembered the quill and ink I had gotten Em for her birthday.

We walked back inside, Em's arm around my shoulders, and I opened it. There was an exact copy of the student letter and list of school supplies, as well as a "private note from Dumbledore" that was actually the card. I read through it and gave my cousin another hug, but we were both laughing the entire time.

"Seriously, how cool would it be if I were actually starting school at Hogwarts?" I said.

"Past cool. That'd be bloody amazing! I mean, really, my little cousin, a witch?" Emily replied, ruffling my hair again. My scathing fake glare was ruined by the fact that I still couldn't stop smiling.

The day from there was a typical birthday. My dad came home, we went to a restaurant of my choice (The Village Inn. Seriously, that place is awesome!) for dinner, came home, had some chocolate ice cream cake, opened presents (some books, a few movies, a Ravenclaw blanket [both Emily and I are Ravenclaws on Pottermore. It explains a lot and we were incredibly happy with that], and a wand that was designed like the one it said I'd have on Pottermore, which is 14 1/2 inches, unicorn hair core, dogwood, hard and not really all that straight, and a bunch of other stuff, a few included stuff _way _too girly for my taste), etc.

We were about to start watching the Prisoner of Azkaban (my favorite Harry Potter book, but I had yet to see the movie) when mum brought up the fact that I had said I'd explain the theory I had mentioned when Emily and dad got here.

Said people leaned forwards in interest. Emily and I are sort of famous in our family for interesting or amusing theories and story ideas.

So I told them, starting from the dream, and generally following my trail of thought to get to it.

When I finished, I opened my eyes, not noticing until then I had closed them, and looked around.

Emily looked thoughtful, rubbing her ever-present necklace like she does whenever she's thinking or bored. She looked like she might seriously be considering the possibility of my "dream theory," as I had started calling it, and when she saw me looking at her she smiled.

My parents, on the other hand, looked shocked.

"What?" I said impatiently.

They shook themselves out of their apparent trance and looked at me embarrassedly.

"Nothing." Dad laughed. He always seems to laugh stuff off.

"Just that," Mum continued, "well, that's a little... weird, to say the least, unexpected to say the most."

"Thanks!" I chirped brightly. I quite honestly loved that reaction. Weird? Unusual? Unexpected? Expected of someone older or less down to earth (which for some reason people think I'm basically grounded but couldn't be more wrong)? Nerdy or geeky? All of the above are my specialty, especially the weirding-people-out part (though it's not necessarily on purpose... most of the time) and are regarded as the ultimate compliments in my book.

Anyway, with that out of the way, we started the movie, Emily and I commenting pretty often.

By the end, I was basically thinking what I had with the first two movies (and most books-gone-movie): _Meh, the book was _waaaay _better._

After Em and I had played around on the guitar for awhile (her playing and singing and me joining in, since I can't play,) we dragged ourselves upstairs. It was about 2:00 AM.

I turned on my lamp, grabbed my PJs, as did Em, and we turned away from each other to put them on.

When we finished, we said, "One, two, three!" and spun around simultaneously and started scrutinizing each others pyjamas, following our usual joking routine. Even though we had a pretty good idea what the others were; we didn't really wear any others unless they were being washed.

Mine consisted of a white short-sleeved shirt with a small, cartoon frog on the front and it read, "I'm a little bit country." Below that was a radio station name. On the back was a cartoon bee and it read, "and a little bit rock 'n' roll," also followed by a radio station. The bottoms were thin, light, and a soft, light blue, going down slightly past my ankles and covered with white cheetah spots rimmed in dark grey, a matching grey to the thick draw-string.

Emily's was her mom's- my Aunt Nancy and my mum's sister- oversized, baggy, bright rainbow tie-dye shirt that swirled to the middle and, like mine, thin and light, slightly baggy, light blue pants (brighter shade than mine) that stopped just a over her ankles, with a narrow draw-string at the top and had a ring of pink and white at the bottom of the legs.

Both of us were barefoot. We hate socks and shoes, but we'll deal with them if we have to.

We met each other's gaze and laughed. Since we had brushed our teeth before the movie, we headed over to my moderately-sized, green sheeted bed in the corner of my room, pushed against the wall on the side and head and by an overstuffed bookshelf.

Emily sat on the edge. I simply collapsed onto it and flopped face-first onto my brown Egyptian-material (whatever _that _means) covered pillow.

Em chuckled. "Jeez, Will, you'd think you hadn't slept in days!"

I turned my head towards her. "Well, first of all, doing that's fun, plus I've only been officially eleven for a few hours, not to mention I've been up since 6:00 this morning, it's currently 2:00 the next, and you are _way _too good at wrestling, and me way too stubborn to go down without a fight." I replied, grinning tiredly.

**Brief POV change to Emily. ****Spoiler to other fic in second paragraph!**

I laughed at my little cousin's tired response. Then my mind went back to her theory.

I looked down and started to mention it, figuring I could tell her about how I can jump to the HP universe basically at will, and maybe even take her with, but stopped myself when I noticed she was fast asleep, curled up with her back to the dark blue wall.

Smiling what I'm guessing was a ridiculously fond smile (I couldn't help it! She looks so peaceful and innocent when she's asleep!), I pulled up the green down quilt, got under it, collapsed onto my light-teal-cased pillow (_she's right, it _is _fun! _I thought) and pulled it over the two of us, turning off the green lamp (she sure has a lot of green stuff) and looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars Willow will absolutely _refuse _to take down, before rolling over so I was facing her and got comfortable.

By way of my typical method to get to sleep, I started thinking. But instead of my usual entertaining storyline, however, I kept contemplating the "dream theory," as I noticed she had started calling it.

_After all, _I thought, _If I can jump across universes, who's to say Willow's wrong?_ I thought just before I fell asleep.

**Back to Willow.**

I was pretty darn positive I had just fallen asleep next to my cousin and basically my best friend, but after this odd- but neat- plunging-into-a-dark-cool-pool sensation, like in the first book of Narnia, I opened my eyes and found myself in a dark, dirty, store-lined... _alley, _I guess. Looking around a little more, I noticed I was getting a few odd... no, _sinister, _looks; people in robes who looked as shady as the alley. They bumped into me roughly as they passed.

I looked down. I had on the dark blue jeans and deep purple hoodie I'd been wearing that day, as well as my black-and-teal tennis shoes. My glasses were back on, though I was sure I had taken them off, and I had a yellowish, heavy parchment envelope in my hand, with my name and address on it. _A... Hogwarts letter?!_

I stuffed the letter into my hoodie pocket and pushed my hands into my jeans pockets by way of habit and gasped. Closing my fist and bringing my hand out, I opened it and practically gaped. For whatever reason, it was filled with golden galleons, silver sickles, bronze knuts, the odd U.S $10 bill, and I'm pretty sure there were some drachmas mixed in.

Putting them back, I caught sight of a sign a few yards ahead, by a rusty- but elaborately patterned- gate that lead to a bright, crowded cobblestone road bordered by shops.

It read _Knockturn Alley. _The one next to it read _Diagon Alley._

For a few seconds, my mind was stuck on one thought: _What the bloody shell is going on here?!_

**Well, hope you liked it! Sorry for any odd/odd usage of vocab. Not British, but I somehow got into the habit of saying and writing mum and bloody, not to mention a fangirl (the **_**shell **_**part is TMNT, if you didn't know) plus I accidentally make up words for a language my friend likes to call Germish. Scientifical and fictionous are two such words. :) (I was trying to say fictitious!)**

**I know it's kind of slow, but it's picking up. Please please **_**please **_**let me know if you like it! And if you want, check out my other HP story, Discoveries. I swear, Emily will be mentioned a bit, so this will make more sense if you know the references. Also, part of the next chapter will also be on Discoveries, just because it fits too well to be ignored.**

**Reviews and PMs are welcome! (Unless you're cussing me out for something!)**


	2. Chapter 2

** Whoo hoo! Thank you to everyone who followed/favorited/reviewed! **

**Sorry for the wait! I could go into a long ramble explaining why, but it's probably something you've heard before.**

**Hope you guys had fun trick-or-treating Halloween night! Me and my friend (let's just say her name's Liona) went as a derangel (deranged angel) and her midget-ninja-sensei accomplice. (Actually, I'm taller than a lot of people in my grade, so I'll explain the midget part if anyone's interested. ;) ) It was awesome! *High Spock's Liona* Turns out she also likes Star Trek! =D**

**Oh, are any of you people fans of Sonic Underground by any chance? I have a few ideas for it. (Seriously, there are very few Sonic Underground fics. And what's with putting all the Sonic shows in one category?)**

**Disclaimer: For the upteenth time, I don't bloody own Harry Potter! So don't sue me!**

**Enjoy! ;-D**

**Willow's POV.**

When it finally sank in just _where _I was, or at least _appeared _to be, I ran for the gate leading to Diagon Alley. All I wanted was to get the shell out of there. Seriously, Knockturn Alley is downright _creepy._ The movie doesn't do it justice!

I got through the gates, bumping into countless people on the way, and collided into... someone. All I registered before hitting the ground was that whoever it was was taller than me, had a dark tan (probably just from the summer) and had a bunch of frizzy brown hair.

After a few seconds and a shake of my head, I looked up. And stared.

I swear, I didn't mean to, but what would you do if you had just ran into (literally!) one of your favorite characters from one of your favorite fiction series?

She stared back, slightly shocked.

This awkward... staring contest lasted for about 30 seconds before Hermione, who had somehow held on to the three bags in her hands through that whole thing, shook her head sharply and reached her hand out to me. I grabbed it and she pulled me up, apologizing profusely.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you alright? Did I hurt you?"

I finally found my voice. Good thing, too, or she might've thought I was mute. Or maybe scared of her. After all, first-year age running into a third-year and getting knocked to the ground. "I-I'm fine. Sorry, should've watched where I was going."

I moved my right arm and hissed slightly. It was stinging. I looked down to see a small cut from when I hit the ground. "Heh heh, whoops. Hey, can I use your wand for a sec? I wanna try something out."

"Sure, um... what's your name?"

"Oh! Sorry, it's Willow. Willow Maya Mercer. And you're Hermione Granger, right?"

I mentally kicked myself. _Really, Willow? Really? You should've played dumb!_

Hermione looked shocked, but responded nonetheless. "Yeah. How did you...? Nevermind." And she handed over her wand.

I grinned. _"Danke. _Er, I mean, thanks." Another mental kick. _German? Seriously?_

I looked down and waved the wand in a circle above my cut, muttering "_Episki." _**(A/N Hope I spelled that right!) **

I don't know who was more surprised it worked, me or Hermione, but it did nonetheless. The cut stopped bleeding and closed.

"H-here, thanks." I handed Hermione her wand, while celebrating inside. _I can't believe that worked!_

"H-how did you-?"

"I have absolutely no idea,"

"Huh." Hermione looked around. "Hey, where're your parents?"

I scrambled for a lie. I hated it, but I'd rather not look crazy, thank you very much. "Well, you see, they're muggles and, since I'm a first-year, this would be they're first time in Diagon Alley. After passing the apothecary, mum kind of blanched and asked if I'd be fine staying here at the Leaky Cauldron until tomorrow. I said yes, and they left. Don't know why though, I personally found the apothecary pretty neat.

"I still have yet to get anything though. I don't know where to start." I admitted sheepishly.

Hermione smiled kindly. "Well, just so happens me and a few of my friends are staying at the Leaky Cauldron, so if you want I could help you out and introduce you to them later. It might help to know someone before going to Hogwarts."

I remembered how the Weasley's and Harry were here, or at least were later. "Sounds great!" I beamed.

So we went around getting my stuff- first stop was Flourish and Blotts.

Poor man. He looked so crushed when Hermione walked in, thinking she would need a Monster Book of Monsters. The look on his face... priceless. I took a little pity on him, though (who wouldn't? Wait, don't answer that, I can think of a few.) and on our way out a stopped for a sec. "Oh, to calm down those monster books, just stroke the spine." I called, smiling.

Next was the apothecary. Let me just say this: it was absolutely _amazing!_ I was pretending to sword fight with a unicorn horn and played around with beetle eyes!

Madame Malkin's was, frankly, close to torture. It took forever to fit my robes and it took everything in my power not to tap my foot or bounce up and down on the balls of my feet. I _hate _clothes shopping with a passion.

Last stop before getting an owl was Ollivander's. As I walked in, I couldn't help but think _This is gonna be fun._ I barely kept a slightly-evil smirk off my face.

We walked in, did the usual greetings, and as Mr. Ollivander was pulling out his magical tape measure, I decided to put my fun little "plan" to action.

I held up my hand. "Before you do that, could I offer a suggestion? I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, and you most definitely know more about wands than me, but can you just humor me here and let me try a dogwood wand, unicorn hair core, fourteen-and-a-half inches, hard?" I looked up, my gaze directly and unwavering into his silvery eyes.

"Ah, yes, just wait there..." And he was off, searching around and looking slightly bewildered. I doubt he's ever been asked something like that before, never mind just how specific I was.

I felt eyes on the back of my head and turned to see Hermione staring at me curiously. I shrugged, answering her unasked question. "Just curious."

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than Mr. Ollivander came back, holding a rectangular box. He opened it and I picked up the wand.

Now, all Potterheads know that when you hold a wand that's chosen you, you get a warm feeling in your fingertips. I just didn't know just how amazing it would be.

I beamed, slashing the wand through the air before I was even told to.

The sparks that my wand made were... stunning, for lack of a better word. It's like it knew my favorite colors, because instead of just red and gold like Harry's, it was a light display of medium blue, dark teal, leaf green, dark purple, and even black.

"Whoa..." I gasped.

I glanced at Mr. Ollivander and Hermione and had to hold back a laugh. They were gaping at where the last sparks were fading, amazed and shocked.

I stared at them. "Hello, earth to people, earth to people, do you read me? Over." I called, waving my hand in front of their faces.

They jerked. Then Mr. Ollivander smiled. "Great job, I've never seen a reaction quite like that... and to think you suggested that wand... Curious."

He turned away and wrapped up my wand, handing it back a few seconds later, and Hermione and I walked out.

I started laughing. I couldn't help myself. Hermione chuckled along with me, but she still looked a little shocked. She looked down at me and asked, "How'd you do that?"

"Which part? The knowing-the-right-wand part, or the five-color-light-show part?"

"Both."

"Well, the first you wouldn't believe me if I told you, or at least not now, and the second... well, I have about as much chance of knowing that as a snowball has a chance of staying frozen on the banks of the Phlegethon." **(A/N Yay Greek references!)**

"Wait, banks of the _what?!_"

I waved my hand. "Nevermind. Greek mythology reference."

Frankly, I quite enjoyed her shocked-but-impressed look. _Thank you Emily._ I thought.

Suddenly, we heard someone calling out Hermione's name and looked up to see an extremely freckled Ronald Weasley waving from a table in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

We walked over and sat down, smiling. Hermione set down her bags, looking rather relieved to do so. "Where's Max?" She asked Ron.

_Who's Max? _I wondered.

"Oh, you know her and her family. Probably met up with Malfoy a week ago and did her shopping then. We'll probably run into her on the train tomorrow. Who's your friend?" Ron asked.

"This is Willow Mercer. She's staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, her parents got a little to uncomfortable and left. I figured she should meet a few people at Hogwarts before going. Willow, this is-"

"Ron Weasley." _Urrrrrggg! _Forget mental kicks, I was on to repetitive mental face walls.

I was blushing. It was obvious. I could tell, not just because of the fact that I could feel my cheeks heating up, but for some reason when I blush, my eyes tear up slightly.

More shocked silence.

"You know, this theme is becoming quite repetitive." I said rather timidly.

Ron just laughed. "Do I even want to know how you knew my name?"

I shook my head. "You wouldn't believe me."

Hermione pitched in. "That's not all. She knew my name, healed her arm after falling using... what was it?"

"Episki."

"Yeah, episki, with my wand after I accidently knocked her down, actually _suggested _a specific wand to Mr. Ollivander before he even measured her, got it right, and..."

She trailed off. I finished quietly, "Well, the usual 'spark show' may or may not have consisted of about five different colors, and I may have made a comment about me knowing how that happened being equivalent to the possibility of a snowball staying frozen on the banks of the Phlegethon sound utterly nonchalant and commonplace."

"Banks of the _what?_"

"A river of liquid flame in Tartarus that's also known as the river of healing... and I'm geeking out again, aren't I?" I said quickly.

Ron snorted. "It''s sounds like a contest for flinging spitballs!"

I can't tell you how close I was to mentioning how that's almost exactly what Percy said. He'd probably get the wrong Percy, anyways.

Instead, I laughed, "Yep, it does. Not the first time I've heard it either."

Even Hermione chuckled.

"Oh, cool accent by the way. What is it?" Ron suddenly asked.

"American."

"Huh. I didn't even know they sent Hogwarts letters to America. Isn't there a magic school there?"

"I suppose so. Quite honestly, I think I'll prefer Hogwarts."

There were a few seconds of silence- this time rather comfortable silence, though- before Ron called out, "Harry! HARRY!"

I looked up and, lo and behold, saw Harry. _Yep, just as I thought, the movie keeps botching up what he looks like. _I thought. Seriously, is it wrong I was riled up about how they keep messing up his eyes and hair?

Anyway, I saw him and I'm pretty sure I shrunk back a little.

**Brief Harry's POV**

I heard my name, looked up, and positively beamed. I saw Ron and Hermione in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Ron almost impossibly freckly and Hermione sporting a dark tan. Both were waving.

I hurried over and suddenly noticed a tall-ish, lithe red-head with green eyes almost as bright as mine with brown spikes going around the pupils.

"Finally!" Ron grinned as I sat down. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Got my school stuff last week. Who's that?" I asked, gesturing to the girl who still sat a bit in the shadows, far enough to be slightly hard to notice but close enough to be obvious she was with them.

**Back to Willow.**

As Harry asked that, I came back out a little and said softly, "My name's Willow. And before I continue and embarrass myself, do you have your invisibility cloak on you by any chance?"

My eyes, along with theirs, widened. I really did facepalm this time. "Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot." I mumbled under my breath.

"How did you know about that?"

I sighed and brought my hand down. "Another moment where you wouldn't believe me yet. And the fact that I know your full name and more applies to that too, not just because you're the boy who lived. No, I'm not a stalker." I said to Harry.

Harry was obviously uncomfortable, so he changed subjects. "What's all that Hermione?" He asked, pointing to the three bulging bags besides her.

I started mouthing along to the conversation, though I was levitating the menu in a bored manner.

"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I? Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, the Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies-"

"What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" Said Ron, rolling his eyes. "You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"

Again, it took quite a bit to hold back a snarky comment, but school gave me a lot of practice.

"But it'll be interesting to study them from the wizarding point of view."

"Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year, Hermione?" Harry asked. Ron and I snickered, though for me it was silent. I let the menu drop back to the table.

We were ignored.

"I've still got ten Galleons," Hermione said, checking her purse. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."

"How about a nice _book_?" asked Ron innocently. I laughed again, still silent. In fact, I'm pretty sure they had forgotten I was there. Actually, now thinking about it, this might've been one of the scenes Rowling saw, if you were to follow Sunshine's theory. **(A/N Yep! I brought Zorua into this too! The theory mentioned is in chapters three and four of Discoveries {I think} if you want to check it out.)**

"No, I don't think so." Hermione's voice was so calm, I wondered if she had caught the obvious sarcasm in that statement. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig and you've got Errol-"

"I haven't," Ron interrupted. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He pulled Wormtail out of his pocket and it took every bit of willpower I had to not grab him and throw him to Sirius, who was probably right around the corner in dog form.

I zoned back in as Ron was saying, "I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

I rolled my eyes.

"There's a magical creatures shop just over there." Harry said, pointing across the street. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl."

I smiled, knowing the outcome of this, and followed. Sidling up to Hermione, I muttered, "Guess I kind of botched up the first impressions, huh."

She jumped slightly. I wasn't surprised. Despite the messy red hair, people often forget I'm around.

She whispered back, "Sorry! Forgot you were there. And don't worry, it's fine."

I grinned up at her as we walked through the door. I immediately started looking at the cages, knowing there was already a wizard at the front desk asking about double-ended newts, and I have no doubt the amazement in my eyes showed.

I love going to the pet section in stores at home, especially if they have live pets. This was better.

Seeing a cage with a banana snake, I headed over. It looked up at me and I said, "You know, they brought in a snake that looked just like you to my school. She was called Sunkissed. Despite the fact that's also the name of a soda, I think it fits."

It nodded, eyes widened slightly (no, not an actual eyelid. Snakes don't have eyelids! I mean the transparent film over them).

Smiling, I remembered that was Sunkissed's reaction, too.

I walked to a place near the back of the store where a medium sized, male barn owl was perched, grinned at it, and looked over at the counter, where the witch who was helping Ron was reaching under the counter, bringing up a small red bottle. I put my hand up, whispering, "Three, two, one-"

"OUCH!" Ron cried out, buckling as something huge and orange- _Good ol' Crookshanks!_ I thought, amused- came soaring from the highest cage, landing on Ron's head before leaping at Scabbers, hissing up a bloody storm.

"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" The witch shrieked, but Scabbers got free of her hold and jumped off the counter, landing splay-legged before scampering for the door, Ron and Harry giving chase.

I was doubled over in- still silent- laughter. I heard the owl besides me hooting softly, and I'm positive he was laughing with me. I held out my arm in a curious manner and he glided down onto it, looking me right in the eyes.

I grinned. "What do you think of the name Soren?" I asked, using the name of one of my favorite Guardians of Ga'Hoole characters.

His wings fluttered up and his head cocked to the side slightly. It looked like he was saying, "Meh."

"Ok, what about Coryn?" I switched to another favorite character.

He nodded his head quickly and screeched softly, fluttering his wings.

"Coryn it is!" I said, carrying him to the front desk where Hermione was paying for Crookshanks.

I smiled and scratched Crookshanks behind the ears. He leaned into my touch and purred.

I laid my arm on the counter and Coryn hopped off. "Why wasn't he in a cage?" I asked.

The witch shrugged. "Must've unlatched it. That one's really clever, more so than the others."

"Thought so." I pulled the remaining money out of my pocket, sorting through the small mound of ten dollar bills, drachmas, and wizard money until I collected together ten Galleons.

I handed the money to the witch, who was curiously eyeing the drachmas and dollar bills, and she handed me a rather large cage.

Putting the remaining money into my pocket, I opened the cage and looked Coryn in the eye before gesturing to it. He nodded once and hopped into it, hooking his talon on the door and closing it, the momentum flipping the latch down.

I smiled, picking up the cage and turning to Hermione. "Come on, let's go find Harry and Ron. It's been ten minutes, they've found Scabbers by now... probably."

We walked out the door and I looked at Coryn, glancing at the latch on his cage and nodding my head up before tilting it towards my right shoulder.

He nodded, eyes gleaming, before lifting the latch with his talon and pushing open the door. He hopped out and spread his wings, flapping them a bit to get up to my shoulder. Looking at me again, I swear his beak turned up a little at the corners as he hopped onto my head, leaning over to look into my eyes again. I smiled and laughed, him joining in with his peculiar hooting laugh.

Hermione looked at us and grinned. "You two will get along great."

"No doubt!" I said, not looking away from my new friend. I think we both felt a strange connection growing.

**Ron's POV**

Harry and I, having finally found Scabbers under a wastepaper bin, walked back to the Magical Menagerie. It took awhile, weaving through the crowded streets, so we talked a little.

"What _was_ that thing?" I asked Harry, massaging my head. That really hurt!

"It was either a very big cat or quite a small tiger." He responded.

"Where's Hermione?"

"Probably getting her owl."

Suddenly, I remembered Willow. I had completely forgot about her.

"Hey, where do you think Willow went? I didn't notice her leave." I asked.

"Who? Oh!" Harry looked a little guilty. "Yeah, I don't know. I completely forgot she was there. Maybe she went off with her parents?" He suggested.

"Maybe- Wait, no. Hermione said she was staying at the Leaky Cauldron because her parents got uncomfortable and left." Now I felt guilty. Sure, Willow was a little strange, but we had completely forgotten about her. She was a first-year, she'd never been here. What if she got lost?

"Well, maybe she followed us and is with Hermione."

"Maybe."

We were quiet until we reached the Menagerie. Harry was right, Willow was right by Hermione, laughing. Oddly enough, there was a barn owl in her head, leaning over her forehead and looking at her.

I smiled. Then I caught sight of what Hermione was holding, and it melted right off.

"You _bought _that monster?" I said, gaping at the gigantic ginger cat purring in Hermione's arms.

"He's _gorgeous, _isn't he?"

_Yeah, if you ignore the fact that it's face looks like he ran into a brick wall, he tried to eat Scabbers, and nearly broke my neck. _I thought.

"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!"

"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" She crooned at the cat. I glanced at Willow, who's owl was still perched on her head, but straightened up now. She looked rather amused, and her lips were moving slightly. I looked back at Hermione.

"And what about Scabbers?" I said, pointing at the pathetically shaking lump in my pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"

"That reminds me, you forgot your rat tonic." She answered, slapping the bottle into my hand. "And stop _worrying._ Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours, what's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages; no one wanted him."

"Gee, I wonder why?" I said sarcastically as we set off towards the Leaky Cauldron.

I looked back this time, making sure Willow was following. She was, but she looked a little lost and out-of-place, almost unsure of every step. I took pity and dropped back a little.

"Hey, cool owl. What's her name?" I couldn't help but notice the owl ruffle its feathers almost indignantly.

"He. It's a he. And his name's Coryn."

"Huh, cool. Any reason?"

She smiled softly. "Actually, it's the name of a barn owl in one of my favorite book series, but I doubt you've heard of it."

"Try me."

"Guardians of Ga'Hoole."

I racked my brains. "Ok, you were right."

"Thought so! It's really more a Muggle book series, but it's pretty neat."

I felt my opinion of this girl shift, going from "same category as Luna Lovegood" to "huh, maybe she's not so bad."

We reached the Leaky Cauldron and went in. Hermione came up to us. "So, Willow, did you want to share a room with me or stay in your own?"

"Well, with you if you don't mind. I don't want to be a nuisance."

"It's fine. Besides, it'll get you used to sleeping in a dormitory."

Willow smiled so big I was a little shocked her face didn't crack in half. "Thanks."

"No problem. Here, let's introduce you to the other Weasleys, then we can take your stuff up." She looked up at Coryn and chuckled. "That owl really likes you."

"Yep!"

We headed over to dad, who was sitting at the bar reading the Daily Prophet.

He looked up and smiled. "Harry! How are you?"

"Fine, thanks."

Dad put down his paper, showing the picture of Sirius Black.

"Still haven't caught him, then?" Harry asked.

I glanced at Willow. Instead of the expected confused look, she was smiling slightly like she knew something we didn't.

"... they've pulled us off our regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him, but no luck." I heard dad say.

"Would we get a reward if we caught him? It'd be good to have some more money-"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron. "Black's not going to be caught by a thirteen-year-old wizard. It's the Azkaban guards who'll get him back, mark my words."

Willow's smile grew a little more, but it looked a little sad.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Um, Mr. Weasley? This is Willow, she's a first year and is going to be staying with me tonight."

Dad smiled at her. "Nice to meet her, Willow." He said, shaking her hand. He looked around. "Where're your parents?"

"Oh, er, they got a little uneasy and left. I'm going to send them a message with Coryn later." She said, pointing at said owl.

"Ah." Dad said, obviously trying not to laugh at the sight of her owl in her messy red hair.

**POV to Willow.**

At that moment, Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Percy, and Ginny barged in. I smiled at Ginny's reaction to seeing Harry, and it grew when I saw Fred, alive, well, and with both ears intact. I chuckled as Percy went up to Harry, shaking his hand, and Coryn and I burst out into laughter when Fred elbowed Percy out of the way and bowed to Harry. "Simply _splendid _to see you, old boy-"

George pushed Fred aside, grabbing Harry's hand. "Marvelous. Absolutely spiffing."

Percy's face would've made a perfect, "unamused" meme.

"That's enough, now." Mrs. Weasley intervened.

I doubled over and Coryn nearly fell off my head when Fred grabbed her hand too, as though he didn't know she was there. "Mum! How really corking to see you-"

"I said that's enough." After dumping her bags in an empty chair, she turned to Harry. "Hello Harry, dear. I suppose you've heard our exciting news?" She pointed to Percy's Head Boy badge. "Second Head Boy in the family!"

"And last." Fred and I muttered.

"I don't doubt it." Mrs. Weasley frowned. "I noticed they haven't made you two prefects-"

She stopped as she finally saw me, still laughing a bit. Actually, I think it was Coryn who made her turn. His laughter can be hard to miss.

Her expression snapped back to being kind, in the way only Mrs. Weasley can pull off. "And who's this?"

I smiled at her. "My name's Willow."

"Nice to meet you, Willow. I'm assuming you go to Hogwarts?"

"Not yet. First year. My parents left a little while ago, so I'm staying here with Hermione for the night. Though I don't know how I'll get to the station."

"If there's room, you can come with us." She looked at Mr. Weasley.

"There should be plenty of room. The Ministry's providing a couple of cars." He said.

Everyone but me looked at him curiously. After all, I knew why, and I was just waiting for Fred and George's tag-team comment.

Sure enough, it happened. "Why?" Percy asked curiously.

"Because of you, Perce." George said seriously. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them-"

"-for Humongous Bighead." Fred finished.

Everyone but Mrs. Weasley and, of course, Percy, snorted in laughter.

"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy repeated. I rolled my eyes. _So formal... ridiculously so. _

"Well, as we don't have one anymore- and as I work there, they're doing me a favor."

I chuckled to myself as his ears grew red.

Turned out, Ginny and Hermione were bunking to, so the three of us went up to the room and I put my stuff on the floor.

Coryn fluttered down to my shoulder as I clapped my hands together once, saying, "So- where do I get a trunk?"

Hermione looked a little embarrassed. "Whoops... um, come on, let's go get one real quick before dinner.

When we came back from doing that, dinner was ready, so I dropped my trunk off in our room (Ginny had pulled together a little makeshift bed while Hermione and I were gone), washed up, and let Coryn fly around for his dinner.

It was rather uneventful, but enjoyable. Ginny and I talked quite a bit, and were the last to go up.

On the way, I remembered two things. One was Ron leaving his rat tonic downstairs, but I decided to leave that be, so Mr. Weasley wouldn't give Harry a sugar-coated version of "Sirius is supposedly after you and you need to be careful" the next day.

The other was that Fred and George had stolen Percy's badge.

"Hang on, Ginny, I forgot something downstairs. Be right back!" I smiled at her.

"Ok! Hurry though, you still need to pack."

"I know."

I lingered around long enough for Harry to go downstairs and for the twins to finish "improving" Percy's badge, then went to Ron and Percy's room, still hearing shouting from the room.

I poked my head in and cleared my throat. Percy turned on me before saying, "Oh, it's you."

"Yep, just me." I tried to keep all the bitterness out of my voice, but it was hard when I knew what Percy would eventually do to his family. "And, before you keep shouting at Ron and say something you truly regret, you might want to ask Fred and George where your badge is."

I backed out, but stayed just outside the door.

I heard Percy turn to Ron. "How did she know...?"

"I don't know, she does that a lot." I heard Ron snap before he stomped towards the door.

He stopped outside, out of sight from the room of course. "Thanks." He whispered.

I smiled and nodded. "Anytime. Perce can be a real jerk sometimes, huh?"

Ron shook his head. "You have no idea."

_No, you don't. _I thought sadly.

"Well, I'm going to go get that rat tonic."

"'Kay. See you tomorrow."

He left, and Percy came out of the room. I waited until he came back, quite pleased to see that he was fuming. _So I definitely gave them enough time. _I thought happily.

He spotted me and stopped, forcing a very small, but genuinely grateful smile. "Thank you." He said, still formal.

I gave him a curt nod, then left, giving a thumbs up to Fred and George as I passed. "You know, that really _was _an improvement." I grinned. They smiled back and I swear I heard George whisper, "Finally, someone with a sense of humor!"

I detoured to where I knew Harry'd be coming up, wanting to reassure him. He didn't see me coming, I guess, 'cause he kind of jumped when I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Oh," he said, embarrassed. "It's just you."

"Yeah. Don't worry, Harry, you'll be fine."

He looked down at me. "You heard?"

"Yep." I wanted to warn him about the Dementors the next day and start him on working on the Patronus spell, but decided he should do it with Lupin. Instead, I said, "Trust me on this one. Sirius won't hurt you, you have two great friends to help you if you get into trouble."

"Three, actually, and I get the feeling with you around it'll turn to four. Hermione told me about the whole wand thing, and how you used episki on your arm."

"Thanks! But... who's the third?"  
He smiled. "Our friend Max. I'm sure you'll see her on the train tomorrow. That is if you sit with us." Frankly, he sounded kind of hopeful.

My smile was rather smaller than his. I shrugged. "Well, I have no where else to go."

Facepalming, I said, "Speaking of which, I still need to pack! See ya!"

As I left, I felt Harry staring at me sympathetically. I called over my shoulder, "Oh, and sorry if I kind of creeped you out earlier!"

Chuckling, he called back "It's fine!"

I walked into the room Ginny, Hermione and I shared and Coryn immediately flew onto my shoulder. I packed quickly, seeing as I don't really care about organization, didn't really have a lot of stuff to pack, had a _lot _of experience getting a bunch of books into one trunk, and that trunk was _huge!_

Oh, and the fact that somehow, a few of my favorite Muggle clothes and books were already packed may have helped.

We chatted while I did that before going behind various objects to change into PJs and then went to bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

When I opened my eyes again, this time in my own room, it had felt like it'd been only a few minutes. I sighed. _Just another dream. A lot more vivid, though._

Glancing at the clock, which read 9:00 AM, I noted that Emily wasn't there.

_Probably in the bathroom. _I reached over to my bookshelf, grabbing The Capture, and arranged my pillows so I could lay propped up on them and read until my cousin got back.

After all, she's probably be interested in my dream.

After a few minutes, something caught my attention:

I still hadn't forgotten a single detail of the dream.

Maybe it was more than that.

** A/N whoo-hoo! super long chapter! 11 pages on Google Docs!**

** Hope you enjoyed! I have a lock-in tonight, so the next chapter of Discoveries will either be super short, not be up 'till tomorrow, or both.**

** Thanks for reading! =D**


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